Florida High School Coach Bans Purdue, Danny Hope from Recruiting on Campus

Things have not gone well for the Purdue Boilermakers since Danny Hope took over for Joe Tiller as the team’s head coach. They’ve gone 5-7 and 4-8 under Hope, and issues like the one he had with A.J. King won’t help matters.

King is a receiver for Armwood High School in Florida, and the senior hurt his knee in August and needed surgery. King apparently hurt the knee again in his team’s first game of the year, but the problems did not stop Hope from recruiting the youngster. King went to West Lafayette for a recruiting visit in December, but later in the month he was informed his scholarship offer had been pulled. Hope had second thoughts after four of his players who had the same surgery as King did not recover well.

Armwood coach Sean Callahan was not happy to see Purdue jerk around his player, so he fought back using his only weapon: his players. The Tampa Tribunesays Callahan has banned Purdue from recruiting on the campus.

While I don’t have a problem with a coach pulling a scholarship because of injury, I think it’s poor form to lead the player on if you did not intend to sign him. Still, all is not lost for King — he’s deciding between Toledo, Kent State, and Ball State. It’s not the Big Ten, but you can do worse than one of those MAC schools.